Minochantha Stupa Group (built c. 1112)

The small Minochantha (also Minochanta) group features the stupa erected under orders of King Kyansittha, who had fallen seriously ill around 1112 AD. A Ceylonese king had sent Kyansittha nine relics of the Buddha as a tribute. According to the marker on the site, the king enshrined the relics in a stupa and said "I am quite old enough, with this meritorious deed may I be free from diseases, may I live a longer life. May the sasana [the Buddhist movement] be flourished. Thus this stupa was named as Min-O-Chantha." Alas, the king died the following year.

The complex is on a raised platform with a small modern wooden shrine along its western face and impressive stupas, guarded by chinthe, the half-lion and half dragon from Hindu-Buddhist mythology. The Minochantha contains an iconographic portrayal of the �Five Sacred Lords� (or hpaya-nga-zu), the five Buddhas of that bhadrakalpa (period).

From the rear of the platform there is a wonderful lookout over part of the vast Bagan plain and its numerous stupas and temples, including those of the magnificent Ananda and Thatbinnyu. From this single, and low, vista, I was able to count 54 separate structures.

Bagan Monument numbers 1924-1930.

Text by Robert D. Fiala, Concordia University, Nebraska